Normally
by narrativegoldfish
Summary: Vivian's life had always been a subject to change. Not all change is good, though.  Like your dad dying, or a close friend, or Delores Umbridge at Hogwarts, or becoming victim to a love potion gone hay-wire, or a full blown war going on. For example.
1. Chapter 1: Girls & Boys

**Author's Note**

**ALL feedback is much appreciated! Tell me what you like. Tell me what you don't like. Have an idea that you think would be fantastic? A certain character trait that you would like to see more of? Or, you know, if you just wanna tell me 'hi' or whatever, that's cool, too. I'd just really like to hear from you if you're kind enough to read the whole chapter and especially if you DON'T read the whole chapter. I want to know what might have turned you off so that I can use that to write better! Thanks for reading this little rant. Please, enjoy my story.**

**-N.G.F.-**

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><p>Back at Hogwarts. Home at last. Well, my second home at least. My first home was in Franklin, Tennessee where my adoptive father and I had lived happily until my fourth year at Hogwarts when McGonagal and Dumbledore had to pull me out of D.A.D.A. to tell me that he had been on his way home from work and slid on a sheath of 'black ice.' He slid in to the opposite lane and was hit by a woman in a BMW. She had died on impact and my father died in the hospital shortly after arriving. In May, I was sent to live with Blanche Mitchell in the upper class side of London. She was my aunt on my birth mother's side, a successful reporter for Witch Weekly, and a social climbing witch from 'old money' as Seamus Finnigan had informed me. His mother was a fan, apparently.<p>

I, however, was **not** a fan. Blanche Mitchell was a heartless, selfish, promiscuous... _bitch_ for lack of a better term. Unfortunately, she was the **only** family that I had left. My adoptive father's parents were dead and he was an only child. My birth father was 'unknown' but according to Blanche, his parents were dead, too and she was a saint compared to **his** relatives that were still living. My mother and Blanche's parents were incapable of raising children since they were both enjoying the blissful and ignorant life of Alzheimer's at one of St. Mungo's classy retirement/care-taking homes. I wasn't sure if they really suffered from Alzheimer's. That's just what Blanche called it because she didn't care enough to actually check up on them.

Just thinking about Blanche made me irritable. I scanned the Great Hall blankly until I came across the Hufflepuff table and immediately looked away from it as a sharp pang shot through my chest. Then, Daphne Dodson, a cute fourth year in my house (Ravenclaw), came to sit next to me.

"I like your hair this year. It reminds me of a sunset sort of," she told me with a smile. I liked to alter my hair in crazy ways over the summer since it pissed Blanche off. The previous year, I had buzzed the left side of my hair while leaving my right side un-touched and in its naturally wavy state. She had called me an "unruly street urchin" for it. To her content, it had grown back to an acceptable length by September although it was still noticeably shorter than the right side. This year, it was a soft pink hue with equally soft lavender accents around the ends. Blanche had called me an "80s cotton candy nightmare" for this alteration.

"Thank you, Daph. I had it charmed by one of my aunt's stylists. Would you like her business card?" I asked her with a smile as I forced myself to clear away my previous thoughts about the Hufflepuff table.

Daphne shook her head with a giggle, "No. My mother would... well, I don't know actually. She'd probably have a fair laugh if I had the gall to do something like that."

"Your mother? The professor at Levton Academy? S. Cartwright?"

"S. Cartwright is her pen-name, yes."

I smiled, "She would have a fair laugh, wouldn't she?" I had read plenty of her mother's books when her older brother, Chiron, who was in the same year as me told me that her books were a lot easier to understand than the ancient ones Snape had us read. He was right. Not only did I understand potions better, her books were thoroughly more entertaining. A couple of them even had optional study alarms charmed in where if you found yourself dosing off as you read, or becoming distracted by something, her voice would sound cheerfully, "You're never going to brew this potion if you don't learn to focus!" or "Hello! Are you still there?" or my favorite, "Chin up lazy bones! You're drooling on my pages! Yuck!"

Cho Chang then approached us solemnly and sat next to me, "Morning."

"Cho, it's night time. Are you okay?" I asked placing a hand on her shoulder lightly as I asked such a rhetorical question that I managed to make myself feel sick.

She shrugged, "It's just different without him."

She was talking about her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff seventh year that had died in the Tri-wizard Tournament that Hogwarts hosted the previous year. The whole school had been affected by Cedric's death but not as much as Cho and perhaps, Harry Potter who had witnessed the whole incident. I had been trying not to think of it, myself, being such close friends with her... and him for that matter.

I gently placed arm around her shoulder and guided her head down to lay on my shoulder, "I know."

It was all I could say.

I looked up harshly and met Harry Potter's own sharp gaze. It was no secret that he had a crush on Cho and Cho even liked him back sort of. I smiled a bit pathetically at him to let him know that everything would be fine. It was quite charming that he was so concerned for her despite the mess that he was in with the ministry and the rest of the student body for 'fabrications' of Voldermort being back and murdering Cedric that night. All I could think was, "Why would Harry create such a horrible lie?" I believed him whole-heartedly. To make something up like that... why, it was just too cruel.

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><p>The hat began the opening ceremonies with a rather ominously reprised version of its normal song before sorting the first years. Then, I noticed <em>her<em>. The squat, toad-looking woman dressed head to toe in pink that was sitting where all of our previous D.A.D.A. professors had sat. She looked like she would be a lot of fun. Apparently I wasn't the only student that thought so, not only were Fred and George Weasley exchanging diabolic grins to one another, but Chiron Cartwright and his best friend, Taeryn Something-or-another were as well. I rolled my eyes in pre-annoyance then returned my attention to Dumbledore as he spoke. Then Professor Pinky Toad stood up with a candy sweet 'ahem' to interrupt him. Cho was still resting her head limply on my shoulder but she even managed to choke out a surprised, "Did she just?"

I nodded, "Yeah. She must find herself pretty important to interrupt and add her own commentary to Dumbledore's speech."

As she began to speak in her sweet condescending dull tones, I became bored and uninterested thinking that her attempt was 'cute' to say the least. I was more concerned with getting Cho to eat something and try to cheer up just a tiny bit. I saw Marietta Edgecomb flirting with a handsome fifth year and rolled my eyes before throwing a dinner roll at her and hitting her in the side of the head. She turned with a glare to find out where the roll had come from but immediately smiled excitedly upon seeing me, already loaded with another dinner roll if I needed to use it. She jumped up disregarding the boy and came over to us.

"Merlin! Your hair! I love it!" She plopped down in front of me and reached out her hand to touch it. Cho then looked up and smiled lightly at me, "Oh yeah. You changed your hair."

She then sat up straight, smiled brightly at Marietta, and grabbed a piece of French bread and served herself a few turkey slices with gravy. Somehow, I knew Marietta would do the trick. I think it was because I babied Cho too much where as Marietta was always pushing her.

In our dorm later that night, Cho gave us a more detailed recap of her summer. Her mother and father barely brought up the subject of Cedric and pretty much told her that death was simply a part of life and that she needed to focus on her studies at school more than ever with such a tragic burden weighing her down. She had felt too depressed to write us over the summer because all she could do was study for her N.E.W.T.S. to keep her from screaming at her parents and crying over Cedric all of the time. She had contemplated writing to Harry but couldn't force herself to do it out of guilt because she really did like him and wanted someone that could understand her pain and relate to her but she didn't want to give Harry the wrong impression... or the _right_ impression and feel like a horrible girlfriend for just pushing him aside for the next best thing. She then spent a good thirty minutes sobbing and apologizing to us for complaining to which Marietta and I both just looked at each other in honest confused shock.

I rubbed her back gently, "I don't think Cedric would hate you for wanting to talk to Harry about everything. For starters, he's too nice for that and secondly, he wouldn't like seeing you this way."

Marietta nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Cho, you can't just keep dwelling on this like it's only your cross to bare. We're all sad that Cedric is gone. Like the sorting hat said, we have to unite. We're here to help each other through everything. Good and bad. It's sad to see you like this."

She sniffled and sat back up rubbing the tears from her eyes with her sleeve, "Alright. I'll talk to Harry tomorrow. I'd like to hear just exactly what happened... no... I _need_ to hear it. Because, if he's back... for real... I don't want to lose any more of my friends to the same fate."

I brushed a tear from her cheek with my hand and leaned over to kiss the top of her head before hugging her, "You're absolutely right. Let's go to sleep."

Marietta then gave me a nurturing pat on the head and leaned closer to me to whisper so that Cho wouldn't hear, "You know, you don't have to be strong for her if you miss him, too. It's not your cross, either."

Her words stung and I swallowed hard.

"I know," I said with a half-assed smile before telling her goodnight and crawling in to my bed fighting to keep the lump in my throat at bay.

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><p>The next morning, it seemed as if everyone was up in arms about Harry Potter and Voldermort and whether they believed Harry or not. Well, once we were outside of the Ravenclaw common room, that is. Most of housemates tended to keep their mouth shut about this sort of thing.<p>

As we were coming out of D.A.D.A. and the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins were going in, Fred and George Weasley seized the opportunity to further annoy me as if Professor Umbridge hadn't done a proper enough job.

"Vivi, _darling_. You haven't said a word to us at all this year," Fred notified me in a sing song manner as he placed an arm over my shoulder.

I smiled (though, it was more of a grimace) and removed his arm gingerly, "It's only the second day of the year, _dearest_."

"You've usually insulted me by then, though, _love_."

"I haven't the energy for it, I suppose. I'm sure I'll have thought of a nice zinger by tomorrow, though. What do you want?"

Fred clutched his heart feigning pain, "What do I want?"

He then grinned wildly and leaned in closer, "Well, since you asked, I'd actually like to know if you'd be interested in a little something special Georgie and I have been working on recently. It's called an insta-beauty mask. The name's a bit iffy but it's just a proto-type. Anyways, it's a cream you salve on your face before you go out that enchants your features. Have a bad zit? No one else has to know about it. Bags under your pretty blue eyes from all of those lonely nights of studying? You don't have to show them off. We aren't exactly sure how long the enchantment works, though. I assume it's a good six or seven hours."

"Are you implying that I _need_ such a product?" I asked a bit sharply causing him to step back.

"Uhh, is it a bad thing? No?" he looked down at me in bewilderment with his big watery blue-green eyes. I could tell the look had been rehearsed by the slight twitch of the corner of his mouth as he fought back an amused grin.

I sighed, "fine. Just hand over the cream, Weasley. I'll advertise for you just this once."

"Thank you, Vivs. You're the best," he cooed sweetly as he handed me the small jar of cream and headed in to class.

I looked over at Cho and Marietta who were holding a tube of lip-gloss and a small bottle of perfume.

Marietta smiled kindly and held up the perfume, "George said they attempted to mimic the properties of Amortentia with this. I figured that's quite some handy work."

I rolled my eyes, "Couldn't they have asked Angelina or Alicia or Katie, even?"

"They already have," Alicia answered with a sigh as she rounded the corner, "coaxed me in to a bottle of color changing mood fingernail polish. Right now, it's just a yucky pea green color. I imagine I'm supposed to be really happy about something or really stressed out. Funny thing is, I'm neither. I think the color is just plain ugly."

I looked down at the small jar in my hand, "And you get to go right in to the first trash bin I see."

Cho grabbed my hand lightly, "That isn't fair. They may be crude but they worked hard at all of this, I'm sure."

I sighed and jammed the jar in my pocket, "fine. I'll actually use it, I guess. I just hope it doesn't cause me to break out even more or anything."

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><p>At lunch, while Marietta was flirting with the same fifth year from the previous night and Cho was off to find Harry, I pulled out my compact and began to apply the mint green colored cream. It had a nice feel to it, cool and refreshing, wet... like actual water unlike the oily consistency of most facial creams. I then put it away along with the cream and began to fill my plate when Arianna Smith, a vivacious third year with beautiful auburn hair came over gaping at me, "Vivian! Your face!"<p>

My initial reaction was boils. Fred Weasley had pulled one of his heartless pranks on me and I now had boils! I was going to murder him when I saw him.

"It's... radiant! I mean, you're practically glowing. You must share your secret with me! Is it a home-brewed muggle treatment? Or a charm that you made up? Or do you just drink a lot of water? Because that's bullocks! I drank water for a month straight and all I did was sweat more."

I blinked at her in utter surprise and confusion.

"What?" I pulled my compact out and looked at myself. Rather than boils (my worst fear), my skin looked perfect. She was right. It did glow in the light of the Great Hall sort of. I blushed a little feeling a bit guilty for doubting Fred and George but also a little silly for actually admiring them for succeeding.

"Actually," I gritted my teeth at the prospect of what I would say next even though I smiled at her kindly, "Fred and George Weasley gave me one of their new products to try out. It's called an insta-beauty mask or something. You can have some if you'd like. Oh, and don't let anyone else know because I don't want to spoil their business, but... they only made me pay half of the price for it. I'm sure that if you catch them alone, they'll work with you as well. They only have a few small batches made, so I wouldn't doddle if I were you."

"Really?" she asked taking the jar in her delicate hands as I held the jar out to her along with my compact. She quickly applied a thin layer to her face and thanked me as she went off to hunt them down, I assumed.

"You're welcome, Weasley. Don't say I never gave you anything," I muttered to myself as I returned my attention to my plate.


	2. Chapter 2: Whatever

**Chapter 2. Yay! I hope you enjoy it. It gets a little sappy. Just be forewarned. I promise that it won't always be like this. Once the D.A. is established, it should feel less fluffy and more Hogwartsy.**

**-NFG-**

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><p>Over the next couple of weeks, I managed to see less of Fred and George (and any other member of the Gryffindor quidditch team) as well as my cream. I had been using it more than I was willing to admit. I had been seeing many more fans of their handy-work, though. Plenty of girls had been complimenting my skin and a few second years had even asked to touch it. Not only was it hiding my skin problems, but it seemed to be... fixing them as well. Why Fred and George were interested in cosmetics for their dream joke-shop was beyond me though I suspected monetary motives. The little tycoons.<p>

Cho seemed to more distant with quidditch practice and Marietta had informed me that she had an official date with Terry Boot (the fifth year she had been flirting shamelessly with since our first evening back at school) on the weekend of our first Hogsmeade visit.

Then, there was Umbridge. The Ministry had made her Hogwarts High Inquisitor... which meant she could impose her own barbaric and closed-minded rules as far as I was concerned. Also, I hadn't learned a single bit of information from her in D.A.D.A. since her long dull detailed lectures seemed to put me to sleep during each class. I was genuinely surprised that she hadn't given me detention. However, I suppose I could do worse things in class... like talk about the Ministry or Voldermort. I had learned early on from a livid Hermione Granger that those were definite red flags. Apparently, Harry was racking up detentions like house points.

"She's fowl and I'm finding more and more difficult to hold my own tongue around her. She's absolutely wretched, Vivian," Hermione had stated as brought D.A.D.A. to make small talk with her in the library one evening.

"We aren't clueless! We deserve to be taught properly."

I nodded my head in agreement, "I miss Lupin."

Hermione blinked at me a bit baffled then her expression softened emmensely and she let out an amused giggle. I hadn't intended for my comment to cheer her up from her rant... but I was glad that it had. She looked so angry she might cry... or hurt someone.

"You aren't alone in that sense," she assured me, "Remus Lupin was a very admirable professor."

"Yes, he was," I added with a grin, "I could admire him all day if I had the chance."

Hermione let out another amused giggle and pushed my book back towards me, "Anyways, on the subject of capable teachers for D.A.D.A."

It was no secret that I had had it pretty bad for Professor Remus J. Lupin during my fourth year. I found him handsome, well mannered, intelligent, and down-right fascinating. Of course, it was just a silly crush. I'm sure I wasn't the only student that had fancied him, though. Plus, it was better than having a crush on Lockheart.

I had stopped listening to Hermione as I reminisced about Professor Lupin. She had shoved a piece of parchment towards me and told me to read it for security precautions.

_We're having a meeting at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade this weekend to discuss a private D.A.D.A. class. You're more than welcome to come if you're interested in defending yourself._

I gave her a confused look then read the script again. I suppose it would make since that she would want it a secret so I nodded affirmatively before muttering a quick incendio charm to burn the evidence.

She smiled feeling quite pleased and I then noticed something fluffy fall out of Hermione's bag.

"Are those-"

"They're hats for the house elves," she stated proudly as she scooped a couple up and handed them to me, "here! Take some and leave them in the Ravenclaw common room. I've founded my own organization for the liberation of all house-elves."

I looked at the small hat and shook my head with a smile, "That's sweet Hermione but I don't think a house elf would even wear that."

She glared at me with a half smile indicating that she knew I was joking, "whether they look nice or not is not the point."

I grabbed my books and a couple of her little hats to be courteous, "Let me just ask you this, though, Hermione... if you were born as a house elf... with the desire to help people no matter what in your very blood... wouldn't you think that Hogwarts was the creme de la crop?" I asked waving my arm to suggest she look around at the amazing castle we got to share with the house-elves every year.

"Ugh, you sound like Fred," she muttered with a pout before returning back to her books dejectedly.

I laughed lightly before wishing her good luck with S.P.E.W. regardless of my own opinion. I just hoped that Winky didn't get a hold on one of those hats since she made the best pumpkin pie out of any of the house elves I had met in the kitchens.

As I left the library, Peeves was floating in the lofts casually down the hallway. I groaned in annoyance and started to make my way back to the Ravenclaw common rooms as discretely as possible. I wasn't keen on any of his antics for the evening.

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><p>When I got to the common rooms, Roger Davies... perfect sandy haired, green-eyed, olive skinned Roger Davies, was sitting in front of the fire alone with a hefty book. His hair was falling in his face and the light from the fire was dancing on that contemplative expression of his. I felt my cheeks start to burn as I feared he would catch me staring. Then, his head bolted up in surprise. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on me and he flashed a friendly smile, "Vivian."<p>

"Roger," I stated as calmly as I could with a small smile. "See you later," I told him as I quickly made my way up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

In the dorms, Cho was sitting on her bed, staring out the window... crying. She had been crying a lot, lately. Most of the time, I couldn't take it and left as soon as I entered the room. Something made me stay this time and it very well could have been my fear of facing Roger Davies out in the common room if he was still there.

"Cho?"

"Sorry, Viv. I just started thinking about it again. I recieved a letter from my mum. She liked her gift."

"So why are you crying?" I asked as I plopped next to her and rubbed her shoulder.

She smiled lightly, "Because she didn't ask how I was. Why doesn't she care about how sad I am?"

I frowned, "Sometimes, people don't know how to deal with sadness so they pretend it doesn't exist."

"Aren't you sad at all? I know you liked him," she asked looking up at me as if she were searching for something I might have been hiding from her, "he and Roger were the only boys I ever saw you hanging out with so the two of you must have been very close."

I bit my bottom lip, "I pretend my sadness doesn't exist most of the time, Cho."

"Doesn't that just make it hurt more, though?"

I shook my head, "Only when I see how sad you are," I lied.

"How come you and Roger avoided each other all summer?" she asked sharply, "He asked me if you were alright the other day. ME. I barely speak to Roger."

I couldn't lie to Cho anymore. I was a horrible candidate for keeping secrets. Plus, it really was killing me to keep my own grief from her. Our whole friendship was beginning to feel foreign and it had only been two weeks.

I knew that I couldn't avoid it.

"Because I kissed him. The night Cedric died, while you were with his father being consoled in the Great Hall, I ran away because I couldn't bare it. I wasn't strong enough to face all of those sympathetic faces ready to tell me that it would be okay that one of my best friends had just died... like they had told me when my father died... like it would just pacify me to hear that everything would be okay. Roger followed me and I don't know, I was confused and trying to hold in a lot of what I was feeling and I kissed him... and I think he was confused because of Fleur and everything that had just happened and I was devistated and I just couldn't talk to him after that. I mean... he didn't even kiss back, Cho. So there. Roger and I aren't talking to one another because of my stupid hormones and I think about Cedric every day. I want to cry every day but I can't because I have to be strong for you because you're my best friend, too... and if we're both crying all of the time, we'll never progress."

Cho rubbed her face with her sleeves and stared at me in awe, "Oh. I didn't know. Oh my goodness, don't hate me Vivian but I thought you were lying to me about some romantic feelings towards Cedric. Like you didn't want to cry in front of me because I'd be angry or something."

I laughed a bit uncomfortably because it was the only thing that felt natural. Having a crush on Cedric seemed absurd. He was handsome but I couldn't ever imagine having an enjoyable time dating him. He was too sentimental and traditional for my tastes. Cedric Diggory, in my opinion, would have been the most boring prince-charming of a boyfriend on the planet. In other words, perfect for Cho but deplorable for me.

She smiled lightly, "I feel so stupid, now. Like a big brat. Crying over my dead boyfriend all of the time and rather than doing anything about it, I'm suspecting my best friend of an affair with him."

"That's not as pathetic as thinking that kissing the boy you've had a crush on for ages will magically make all of the pain go away. I feel like such a miserable cliche of a girl."

Cho giggled softly and hugged me, "Come on. Let's go have dinner. We have the rest of the year to cry with each other and be typical cliche girls, alright?"

I nodded, "fair enough. By the way, Hermione invited me to tag along with her in Hogsmeade this weekend," I said putting slight emphasis on 'Hermione' and 'Hogsmeade.' Not like anyone would over hear us. It was still kind of fun to feel like I was keeping top secret information from being leaked. (Although, I had been spilling my guts out to Cho over something as simple as a boy because I was terrible at keeping secrets.)

"I wonder. Did Harry say anything to you about it? It could be fun," I asked her following up on my hints.

She gave me a knowing smile, "He did. We should invite Marietta and Terry."

* * *

><p>That Friday, Marietta reluctantly agreed to tagging along with us.<p>

"I don't think it's so good of an idea," she stated before asking me to borrow the face cream that the twins had given me. She was still going on her date with terry after the meeting.

"My mother really thinks that it's best if we stay clear of Umbridge's bad side. The woman has more power than her fake angelic voice would lead on, apparently."

"Have a little adventure, Marietta!" I teased her as I plopped down on the bed to put on a pair of my favorite knee stockings. They were white with little hearts on them and made me feel like a little girl.

"Have some class," she retorted, "I can see your hot pink nickers for Merlin's sake."

"You like that?" I asked with a grin receiving an eye roll from her.

"My mother has warned me, too," Cho informed her, "but I disagree with her. Plus, we won't be on her bad side if she never finds out, right?" Cho asked sheepishly.

I sat up with a proud grin, "See, Cho gets the idea. Come on Marietta, it'll be like dueling club only top secret dueling club." I joked as I jumped up on the bed and drew my wand out at her wagging my eyebrows at her as a challenge.

"I said I would go, didn't I?" she asked tossing the cream back at me, "Now put a shirt on."

I looked down at myself remembering that I had only gotten as far as my under garments, my skirt, and my knee stockings when getting dressed. I then rummaged through my clothes until I found a comfortable loose-fitting sweater and pulled it down over my head.

"By the way, for someone that's all about adventure, I noticed that your hair is back to it's natural brown color," she teased with a wink.

"For starters, the pink clashed with my tie, Roger told Cho that he liked the brown better, and I can't even tolerate class with Umbridge let alone an extra session of detention. Oh! Come on! I'm starving and I don't want to have to rush through breakfast before we leave."

I grabbed my purse and a scarf for extra warmth then headed out of the dorms with Cho trailing behind a bit happier than usual.

I suspected two things putting pep in her step that morning.

1. The chance to actually fight for something worth fighting for.

2. The boy who lived.


	3. Chapter 3: To Wish Impossible Things

**Author's Note: Loooooong time no see! Here's chapter three. Yes, the chapters are named after songs. Mainly songs from 90's artist cause I'm a nerd like that and it puts me in the mood to write. Helps me really capture Vivi's teen angst, ya know? Ha ha. Kidding. Anyways, enjoy!**

The smell of damp soil and fallen leaves made me smile as I pulled my jacket tighter around me. I couldn't wait to get inside the Hog's Head and order something hot to drink. I was so cold!

The pub which wasn't much warmer inside than it was outside was practically empty when we arrived save for a few scattered customers at the bar. I walked over to the silver haired scraggly old man that was wiping the counter down with a dingy rag and asked him for a hot tea.

"Madame Rosmerta's three shops down," he stated rudely before muttering something that wasn't even human sounding. He then tossed the rag in a pail of cloudy greyish colored water. I wrinkled my nose a little and forced a small smile.

"Very well, then. Do you have coffee?"

The man groaned at me in annoyance as he walked over to a coffee pot that didn't even have steam coming from it letting me know that it had been neglected for some time. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. I was just glad he actually served anything other than hard alchohol and stale beer.

I gave him my money with a meak smile hoping to return some gesture of endearment from the grumpy looking old man. All I got was a wince and a grunt but it was more than I could hope for so I returned to Cho and Marietta.

"It smells like a farm in here," Marietta complained, "and are you seriously going to drink that?"

I nodded and took a sip. I immediately wanted to spit it out. Not only was it cold, but it was burnt on top of it. I winced after I swallowed the nasty liquid then placed my mug with its contents on the counter for clean up.

"Vivian! Cho! Marietta! Thank goodness!" I heard George Weasley call from the doorway as he brushed off his boots and removed his hat and scarf.

"Fred and I thought we were going to look like over achievers if we were early!"

The two of them then went over to where Hermione, Ron, and Harry were standing. I could hear Hermione bickering with Fred over how being an over achiever wasn't a bad thing and he could strive to over achieve more often.

"Let's go sit down, I don't want to get stuck behind anyone tall," Cho stated.

"That's code speak for, I want to sit close to Harry," I whispered to Marietta who giggled lightly. Cho snapped back around and gave me a mild glare.

"No it is not and he might hear you so shut up," she ordered.

We sat next to Fred and George who were already discussing new ideas for Wheezes. Cho and Marietta where discussing ... well, they were discussing Harry as discretely as they could. I looked towards the door to see if anyone was coming in. It was just Ginny and one of her friends. I kept watching the door patiently for another half an hour but the person I was waiting for never came in to the pub that day. The disappointment must have shown since Cho gave my knee a gentle squeeze and smiled kindly at me, "He can still come to the first meeting at school if he changes his mind."

I nodded and turned my attention to Hermione who had just nervously cleared her throat to grab our attention.

After a bit, Harry began to tell us about his experience with defending himself against Voldermort. His main point was that he had gotten help each time... that he had gotten lucky because facing it was so much different than being in the safety of the classroom.

The meeting actually left me feeling heavier than I had expected it to. As we were all jotting down our signatures and leaving, a cold depressing, empty feeling swept over me. It was like I was outside of my body watching myself watch my classmates.

Cho nervously making eye contact with Harry. Marietta tapping her foot impatiently. Fred and George laughing and goofing off with Dean Thomas. Hermione and Ron having a dumb argument over something. Collin Creevy snapping photos of everyone.

It was the flash of Collin's camera and Marietta pulling me closer to her with a small giggle while Fred and George were laughing behind us that broke me out of my trance.

"Come on Viv, let's see a smile," Fred joked as he brought his arms around from behind me to place his fingers on the corners of my mouth and force them up in a smile as Collin snapped yet another photo. I grinned and swatted his hands away, "Take another Collin, Fred made that one stupid!"

"It actually came out really nice!" He beamed showing me the magic print out of the photo. He was right. Fred was beaming and looked surprisingly photogenic which wasn't anything that I had expected, George had just turned around and had what I assumed was his default charming photo smile across his face, Marietta looked pretty as always in pictures,... where as I just looked confused and caught off guard.

"See, it's cute," Fred assured me with an annoying pinch of my cheek before stepping around me and heading out the door with a wave, "See you back at school, everyone. Remember, George and I start Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes orders again on Monday!"

"No they don't," Hermione tried to warn everyone but no one was really listening to anyone outside of their own conversations any more.

I placed my hand on Cho's shoulder, "I'm going to go see if I can catch up with Roger, okay?"

She nodded and told me that she'd find me later, then Marietta latched herself to my arm and guided me out the door with her.

* * *

><p>In the street, we went our seperate ways. I had a feeling that Roger would be sitting alone in a booth at The Three Broomsticks. He was. He had an open text book, parchment, a fresh pack of sugar quills, and two steaming cups of coffee in front of him. He was expecting someone. I would only be a minute in that case.<p>

I sat down in front of him and asked why he hadn't gone to the meeting a bit more forwardly than I intended.

He looked up at me surprised, "That was today?"

"Of course it was today!"

He smiled at me as if my reaction was funny which let me know that he was being sarcastic when he asked me.

"I'm sorry Vivian, that just doesn't sound like something I can afford to get involved with. It's my seventh year. I have a lot on my plate."

"Bollocks!"

"No, not bollocks," he stated calmly as he returned his attention to his studying. He then nudged one of the mugs of coffee towards me, "One house coffee with a double shot of espresso, love."

"A Red Eye! You're too good to me, Rog."

"It's disgusting. I don't see how you drink it without any milk or sugar."

"It's not disgusting."

"It is. It sounds like the kind of drink that old men that suffered through the depression would drink."

"What do you know about the Depression?"

"That the small children that grew up to now be cynical old men during that time period probably drink that nasty drink because it reminds them of the dirty water they had to drink as children and the only happy memories associated with it... which probably aren't many since they were kids during the depression."

"Touche. I suppose that makes me a grumpy old man, then?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Right. You're taking me to bingo this afternoon, then and I'm giving you a nickel. Nothing more."

"Oh golly gee whiz! A whole nickel!" he exclaimed in a rather silly American accent.

He smiled at me for a moment then looked back down at his text book and shook his head.

"What?" I asked, "What was that just now?"

"Nothing... it's just... nice to have you treating me normal again after avoiding me all summer."

I smiled lightly and blew in to my mug of coffee to cool it. So he had been waiting for **me**...

"Well, do we have to talk about that, really?"

"Eventually," he answered me quite seriously.

He closed his book and leaned back with a sigh, "But it can wait. How was the meeting?"

"Fine but I can't discuss it with you."

"Can you discuss your summer with me or are you going to be seclusive about that, too?" He teased.

"My summer was fine. Blanche took me to Greece... again. I think she might think that it's the only place I like to go."

"Have you told her otherwise?"

"No. I don't really care because she usually puts me in my own hotel room anywhere we go so I don't have to deal with her."

"Sounds like genuine family vacation time."

"What's your angle, Davies?"

"She's your aunt."

"Yeah, like I can help that."

"Nevermind," he shook his head with a smile.

He went back to his studying and I enjoyed my coffee in silence. Things were not back to normal, though. I made my bed. Eventually, I would have to lie in it. Knowing Roger, what I had done was not something that he could easily brush off.

After a few moments of silence, he looked up.

"Are you hungry?"

I shrugged, "You?"

"Always," he answered with a grin as he closed his book and put it away in his satchel.

He then waved Madam Rosmerta down. She came over and jotted down our orders and in moments, she was back with them piping hot and smelling delicious.

"Potato and Leek soup?" Roger asked me, "You really do have the tastebuds of an old man!"

"Shut up!" I exclaimed jabbing his arm with my spoon, "I love it... so there. Pass me the salt, please?"

He handed me the small salt shaker with a shrug. He had ordered corned beef and sauerkraut something or another. Merlin, did it look disgusting. I could smell the kraut and wanted to gag.

"Wanna bite?" he asked with a grin holding the foul smelling white mass out to me on his fork.

"No thank you. You know that I don't touch that stuff."

He smirked and plopped a portion on my plate, "For me?" he asked with a devilishly charming grin.

I could feel my cheeks getting hot. Roger Davies was either genuinely flirting with me or he was toying with me. Either way, it made me insanely uncomfortable and I took my fork out of it's cozy home within a red linen and scooped a small bit of it into my mouth chewing fast and swalling with a wince.

Eugh! It was awful! He was awful! The texture, the smell, the taste and the way it lingered in my mouth afterwards.

"Happy now?" I asked as un-phased as I could make myself sound.

"Actually, yes... you look really cute today, by the way."

What are you doing? I thought to myself as I stared at him briefly. Why is there this huge awkward elephant sitting at the table with us watching our every move? And why is he being so... charming all of a sudden? Did that kiss actually mean something to him? Was he trying to follow up, now? Or was I just reading in to every thing he did or said... because of the kiss?

"Thanks, you look really nice, too."

He did. He always looked nice... for as long as I could remember.

* * *

><p>It was eight o'clock when I arrived back at the castle with Marietta glued to my hip asking me all about Roger Davies. I told her that I was "very tired," and left her in the common room with a few other students that were still giddy from the evening. Cho was in her bed reading but she acknowledged my prescence with a smile as I crawled in to bed.<p>

"Sleepy?"

"Extremely," I replied with a yawn.

"Don't forget that Umbridge wants that report turned in at 9 A.M. sharp."

"Ugh," I groaned before jerking the covers over my head and closing my eyes to welcome sleep.


End file.
